


take my breath and never let it go

by rocket_rach



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Date Night, Day five - I could've lost you, Day four - I know you, DickBabs Week 2019, Explosions!, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Journals, Kidnapping, Loss, Saps in love, au- gods and goddesses, barbara gordon confirmed for den mother, day one- do you trust me?, day three - it was good to see her laugh, day two - its three in the morning, dickbabs children, ig futurefic, ish???, kid detective cracks the case and saves his gf, kryptonian ex machina
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-07-31
Packaged: 2020-06-02 14:02:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19442905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rocket_rach/pseuds/rocket_rach
Summary: Dickbabs Week 2019day one - "Do you trust me?"day two - "It's three in the morning."day three - "It was good to see her laugh."day four - "I know you."day five - "I could've lost you."





	1. "Do you trust me?"

This was not how Barbara saw date night going. It’d started off innocently enough. Dick had picked her up at her place with a ridiculous bouquet of roses, then opened the wingback door of the Maybach Bruce had let him borrow for the night and drove them to the Gotham Ritz Carlton for a steak dinner in the rooftop restaurant. It could have been the red candles burning between them, but he’d never looked so handsome. She moved her arm, resting her chin on her fist as she watched him.

“What’d you think, pretty lady?” Dick asked.

“The food was amazing, but not as good as the view.”

He winked. “You ready for dessert?”

“Dick,” Barbara laughed. “I’m little worried you’re fattening me up for slaughter.”

His right hand reached for hers, placing it on the fine table cloth as the waiter bussed the table. Her fingers were wrapped up in his calloused but gentle grip, and she’d never felt anything so wondrous in her life.

“I’d never lead you into a slaughter.”

She squeezed his hand as she muttered, “I know. What’s for dessert, then, since you’re not planning on killing me?”

“Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be eating flaming tiramisu that’s been dipped in gold?”

If Dick wasn’t such a charmer, she’d probably hate billionaires, and their heirs. When the dessert was rolled out to them, set on fire, and placed in front of them, her mouth began watering. Space miraculously opened up in her stomach for more. The next few minutes passed quietly between them; only the soft din of the other diners filling the room. Once they were done, Dick stood and offered his arm to her.

“Wanna get some fresh air?”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world, boy wonder.”

They wandered across the rooftop, both sitting on the ledge and looking out over the streets below. It was a humid summer night, the kind that made your sweat _sweat_. But the breeze 40 stories up helped cool their heated bodies. A few other people were walking about, peering over the edge and gasping at the drop. They quickly backed away; giving Dick and Barbara odd stares.

That was when the restaurant exploded.

Barbara was aware of the fact that Dick grabbed her arm before she realized she was falling. Fast.

“Dick!” She screamed.

“Hang on,” Dick groaned as he pulled her body to his. “Hang onto me.”

“Do you have anything?” She had to shout into his ear as the wind thundered past them.

“Do you trust me?” He shouted back.

The funny part was, 40 stories up and quickly reaching terminal velocity with no Batgear to save their hides, she did. She realized that she had trusted this goofy, impulsive, loving man since the first time they’d met next to the Batsignal, all those years ago.

“Yes.”

The ground floor awning was nearly upon them, and the wind was so loud she couldn’t hear his response.

“You picked a helluva night to have a date, pal,” Superman said as their momentum stopped.

Barbara clung to the Kryptonian. “I told him we should've gone to Metropolis.”

“Bats is heading up there now. He left your gear on top of Wayne Enterprises. Wanna go get it?” He asked as he lifted the two of them out of the range of prying ears.

“Whaddya say, Babs?” 

“It’s not a date night until one of us is in costume,” She laughed.

“I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear that,” groaned Clark.


	2. "It's three in the morning"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barbara got kidnapped; Dick's pissed.

“Dick, you have to wake up,” Bruce said.

“’M comfy. Go away,” the fifteen-year-old grumbled.

“It’s Barbara. She’s been kidnapped.”

An hour later, Batman and Robin were combing the streets of Gotham with it’s finest. Neighborhoods were being woken, homes were being searched, and even Gotham’s second deadliest criminals were laying low. All the deadliest were being hunted like dogs. There wasn’t a note. There hadn’t even been a demand made yet. All that was known was that the commissioner had gone to check on his daughter after his shift to find her room trashed, and her bed empty. The only clue was a smear of blood on the windowsill to the fire escape. Batman had tested it. It was Barbara’s blood.

As they soared from building to building, Batman took extra care to make sure his ward was always in his sight. The boy had been shaking ever since he’d been woken, and it was obvious it wasn’t from fear. They finally alighted on the Gotham Towers.

The massive stone buildings had been built to welcome new immigrants during the great migration. Now they stood as warnings, keeping the city, and everything within it, at bay. The elder vigilante hoped it was enough to keep Barbara inside.

“This doesn’t fit the Joker’s M.O.,” Robin muttered. “It’s too quiet.”

“Correct,” Batman agreed as he clipped his grapple-gun to his belt. “The police running through the city definitely doesn’t help any.” 

“We should be with them.”

“We’d only make it worse. Tell me who you think it is; what their next course of action would be,” Batman said as he crouched lower on his chosen gargoyle.

“They’d have to know the commish’s schedule. He doesn’t really work normal hours. If they didn’t leave a note,” Robin’s legs began swinging in the open air. “Then they were worried about when the commish would get home. Which means then, they’d have to hide her. Once they thought she’d couldn’t be easily found, they’d probably make their demand then. So, soon. It’s gonna happen soon.”

Batman wasn’t one for showing emotion in the field, but even the Alfred taught Stiff Upper Lip couldn’t stop the small smile from appearing on his face.

“That means,” Robin continued. “It probably was somebody in the force.”

The boy wonder pulled up his holoscreen, flipping through pictures of the cops and detectives that were closest to Gordon in the force. It was a hard task, considering how many cops supported him, but Robin needed to find Barbara. Most of them were eventually cleared. Batman stopped Robin’s agitated swiping after one moment.

“Jack Ty,” Batman growled. “He used to be dirty. Cleaned up after Gordon became commissioner. Rumor was Jim threatened to fire him if he didn’t get his act together.”

“He’s got her.”

“Why?” Batman asked. He knew Robin already knew, but it was still good to test him.

“Ty’s probably still mad about that. A dirty cop in Gotham is a rich cop. Then, you add on top of that the fact that Gordon always was and still is a good cop; I bet he never got over that. But where would he take her?”

Batman unclipped his grapple from his belt. The cowl was still pointed at Dick as he puzzled out the answer.

“The one place Gordon doesn’t like to go,” He whispered. “Batman, she’s at _Blackgate_.”

Minutes later, the Batmobile was snarling as they approached the barbed wire topped cast iron gates. Above them, storm clouds were roiling. Bolts of lightning forked around the spires. They didn’t bother with warning the guards that they were approaching; the ones that had worked in the penitentiary the longest had simply swung the gates wide enough for the car to enter. Once they were out, the front doors opened too.

In Arkham, the shadows of the Dynamic Duo were often enough to silence some of the less insane inmates. In Blackgate, it merely brought cheers and threats of death. Usually, that made the Boy Wonder stick a little closer to his mentor’s side. Tonight, however, he was storming ahead of them as they went towards the warden’s office. He kicked in the door.

The hinges didn’t stop rattling until after Robin had landed three effective punches, knocking Jack Ty out. Barbara, still in her wonder woman pajamas, was unconscious in the corner. He ran to her side, cutting the ropes that tied her to the chair. Batman was busy handcuffing Jack, slightly annoyed that he was unconscious and couldn’t answer questions; but prouder that Robin brought a man three times his own weight down with three hits.

Robin snapped open a container of smelling salts under Barbara’s nose.

“Babs, you gotta wake up. You’re safe. Batman and I found you. C’mon, _please_ wake up.” 

Her nose scrunched up as she groaned.

“Robin?”

“Hiya, Barb,” The Boy Wonder grinned. 

“What time is it? God, my head hurts.”

“It’s,” He checked his wrist. “Three in the morning.”

She blinked, becoming more aware of where she was. 

“Jack?”

“I took care of it,” Robin said as he leaned closer.

Batman turned as Dick kissed Barbara, her arms pulling him in tight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yall ever tear through a city and find out who kidnapped your future wife in a nearly blind rage?


	3. "it was good to see her laugh"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> day three- it was good to see her laugh
> 
> Misery and reflection love company

She’s old. Older than her father ever was. Older than Dick ever got to be. It hadn’t been the life that had taken the love of her life from him, but simply old age. He’d passed a few years back, surrounded by their children, his brothers, and their kids. He’d laughed at their antics even through the pain he was experiencing and made them laugh.

But that was five years ago.

Now, Barbara had moved into the manor. Her children were just as persuasive as their father and had managed to convince her to retire in the safety of the Wayne home. She’d been retired for nearly twenty years now, and while she still occasionally helped the kids on their missions, she spent most of her nights exploring the massive wings of the manor.

Tonight, had found her in the attic. Ever since she was put into the chair, Bruce had done everything in his power to make all places within the manor handicap accessible. Even the dusty attic. 

“I thought I’d find you up here,” She smiled at Damian.

At forty years old, Damian was the spitting image of his father. He had all of his height, all of his bulk, but that tan skin and that near present smile were where the differences ended. Damian reached his arm out, and she wheeled into his side.

“I miss him, Barbara,” Damian said. “I miss him a lot.”

“You and me, both. Whaddya have there?” She asked as she spied the journal in his grasp.

He lifted it up, holding it in the weak light of the bulb hanging from the ceiling. She saw the D.J.G.W., embossed in gold on the cover.

“It’s one of Richard’s journals. I think it’s the one he was writing when you got married. The dates line up. I haven’t opened it besides the first few pages. I – I don’t think I can.”

Barbara wrapped her arm around him, giving him a quick squeeze. “You don’t have to.”

His emerald eyes turned to her. “Read it to me?”

“Only the safe for work parts,” she agreed.

“I’m forty years old,” Damian grumbled as he settled onto the ground.

They were quiet as Barbara thumbed through the pages. Dick’s handwriting had always been nearly illegible, and as the pages passed under her fingers she noted that it seemed to only get worse. But phrases like _she’s the love of my life, the smartest woman in the world, my wife, pretty woman_ were almost always written in near perfect penmanship. 

“Here we go,” Barbara decided. “This is from a few weeks after Mary was born;

_Barbara’s been pretty down in the dumps. I know it’s the postpartum. I wish I could do more to help. She’s great with Mary. She’s such a good mom, I know my mom would be proud. I tell her every day how proud I am of her. I am. Our daughter… shes perfect. She’s got Babs everything, I don’t think I actually helped make this baby. Marys just a clone of Babs, I know it. But yeah. Shes only a few weeks old, but shes already changing my life, and she did the cutest thing the other day. I was coming back home after patrol. Babs hair was so frizzy. She was covered in baby spit up, and she had Mary sleeping on her shoulder while she typed at the computer._

_I married the most beautiful woman in the world. Im the luckiest son of a bitch,_

Barbara paused her reading to laugh wetly. “Did he ever tell you this story?” She asked Damian.

He shook his head no.

_“Bruce thinks he is, but he’s wrong. Its me. Anyway, I was dropping my shit in our closet and was down to my boxers and my mask. That’s when Mary woke up. She started screaming and it scared the hell out of Barbara. I guess she didn’t hear me come in? weird. She hears everything. So she grabbed the batarang on the desk and hurled it at me. It landed smack in the middle of my forehead,_

“I always wondered how he got that scar,” Damian grinned. 

“Don’t you try sneaking up on me or you’ll get one, too," she promised before continuing.

_“once I got it out and put a bandaid on it and Barbara could finally breathe again, I took our little girl and my pretty lady and we snuggled up for the night. It wasn’t until today, when we were at wayne manor, that Barbara laughed. I didn’t even realize, she hadn’t really laughed. The full bodied snorting and the way her nose scrunches up, the blushing, I hadn’t seen that since Mary been born._

_Bruce had gotten out of work late, and came into the study where we were playing with mary. For being such a big guy, he can move so damn quietly. It scared the hell out of mary, and she hurled the letter block right at his face as he picked her up._

_It was good to see her laugh._

_I missed it so much._

Barbara stopped reading, her eyes too teary. She sniffed, letting her liver spotted fingers trail over even more of Dick’s adoring words. It became too much; she was grateful when Damian gently took the book from her hands. He leaned down, letting her hug him and cry into his shoulder.

“He was the best, wasn’t he?” She hiccupped.

“He was only the best because of _you_ , Barbara.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its not truly a dickbabs week until i kill one of them and leave the other to suffer :)


	4. "I know you"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> day four -"I know you"
> 
> being the unofficial adopted son of the god of death is cool and all, but the oracle in the city makes some pretty compelling arguments for returning to life

It wasn’t often the gods sent their whelps to visit the humans. Usually, they’d just go down to Earth themselves to have their fun with them. But Death had taken pity on the young acrobat and gave him a half-life.

The young acrobat had named Death, Bruce.

Bruce supposed it was all right. He liked Dick at first, but then that general positive regard had turned into something he assumed was close to parental love. Which was why it so hard to see him slowly becoming infatuated with the Oracle of Gotham. He wasn’t sure how he would take being second in Dick’s life.

“Do you have any messages you want me to take the Oracle?” Dick asked.

“Do you just want to go visit her?”

“What! No. I mean, she’s a _girl_. I just wanted to save you a trip. I know you’re a busy guy and all, collecting souls.”

“I don’t collect them. I just make sure they stay here,” he reminded the boy. Sometimes, he forgot he was eons old, and the boy was only ten. “If you want to go visit, you can go. You know the rules.”

“'Come back before sunrise, or else I’ll get stuck there. Don’t talk to other gods, because they can’t know about me. Don’t tell anyone who I really am, and don’t visit my parents or else I’ll get sucked into Tartarus.'”

“Good. Come,” He waved Dick forward after he stood. 

Dick nearly sprinted to him. He hugged Bruce tight, his arms clinging to his mentor. Bruce hugged him back, and finally whispered; “Stay safe, Dick.”

“I promise,” Dick nodded into his shoulder.

Then the grand throne room of the god of Death vanished, and the sprawling city of Gotham appeared below the cliff he was on. The skies were blissfully clear, the moon full, and the path towards the Oracle was wide. He set off at a quick trot. As much as he loved staying with Bruce and learning about all the other mythical powers that inhabited their world, he really missed the crunch of leaves under his feet and the bugs clicking in the trees.

It was the most beautiful experience in the world.

But not as beautiful as the red-headed Oracle sitting on the stoop of the Seer building. He skidded to a halt.

“Hi,” he panted. “I- “

“I know you.”

“You... You do?” This wasn’t good. This really wasn’t good. Bruce was gonna be pissed.

“I’ve seen you. In visions. But you look different now. What’s your name?”

He swallowed. He wanted to yell his true name. She deserved it. She translated the words of the gods, for crying out loud. She’d know if he gave her a fake name. There was also the threat of eternal torment with the titans that had created and nearly destroyed the universe looming over his head. But the way the wind was making her curly red hair fan over that freckled shoulder was making a convincing argument.

“Di-I on,” He cleared his throat. “I’m Dion. I’m new in town.”

She hummed, taking this new arrival in. She was new to school of Sight and was still allowed to leave the temple. She spent most of her days sitting on the stairs, watching the people of Gotham as they passed by. But for all her days observing, she’d never seen this kid.

“You have the mark of death on you.”

“I lost my parents two years ago. I wouldn’t be surprised,” he shrugged.

“It’s stronger than that. You’ve… touched death.”

His heart seized. This was too much. There was no way she already had his number. He had to leave. He had to go before she said anything else. After all, with gods involved, you never knew who was watching. 

“Do you want to go to the lake?” His voice cracked.

“No.”

Dick went home hours earlier than he planned to.

Dick had just turned 15. Bruce hugged him, and within moments Dick was standing in front of the School of Sight. Barbara was sitting in her usual spot, white chiffon dress billowing around her crossed ankles.

“I know you,” She smiled.

“How?” He asked as he crossed the distance to her. “I just got into town.”

“What’s your name, then, stranger?” 

He placed his hands on her waist and kissed her softly. “Demetrius.”

“Demetrius,” Barbara hummed as they broke away. “I think I’ll join you at the lake this year.”

They walked through the winding cobblestone streets, her arm wrapped around his. It was still early in the night. Hearth fires were burning, candles placed in windows helped light their way to the dock. The lake was blessedly still. Gentle waves lapped at the sandy beaches they finally sat on.

“I know you’re not really named Demetrius,” She began after a few moments of silence. “I’m not going to ask you what your real name is, so don’t worry. I’ve learned enough at school to know that you don’t ask the favored ones of gods too many questions.”

“Thank you.”

“But why me?” She turned to him, the pale moonlight hollowing her cheeks.

“Where I’m from…. There’s a lot of rules. They’re all there to protect me. I get that. But these trips are something I really like. I don’t get a lot of good conversation like I do here. Plus,” he stretched his legs out int the sand, then dropped his hand on top of hers. “You’re good company.”

“Will you ever tell me your name?” Barbara asked a few moments later.

Something breached in the middle of the lake. One of these days, Dick decided as he materialized back into Bruce’s palace, he’d stay the whole night.

“I know you,” Barbara said from her window.

“My name is- “

“Oh, don’t spoil the fun. Get in here.”

Dick climbed into the window. In the eleven years he’d been coming to visit her, he’d never actually been inside of her room. It was rather messy. Dresses were piled in heaps on the floor. Mirrors lined the west facing wall, reflecting the east window in them. Various items for spells were scattered on her dresser, along with golden jewelry and other priceless gems. She made room for him on the bed.

“Having your jewelry out with an open window seems like a bold move for Gotham.”

“The penalty for stealing from an Oracle is death,” she shrugged. “Our guards are pretty good at keeping this place men free.”

“Not good enough,” he laughed softly.

She grabbed him them, pushing him down onto the bed. Her kisses were hungry and desperate, and Dick thought her lips were the softest thing in the world. Barbara tasted like cinnamon. His fingers threaded through her silk soft hair as he tried to pull her closer. Then she was pushing him away.

“This,” she panted. “This was a mistake. We’re supposed to be maidens. We’re supposed to- “

“What if I told you my name, and you ran with me?”

“ _What_?”

“I know it’s impulsive. Probably really stupid. But I feel like we’re supposed to be together. Don’t you? I only get one of these nights a year. I used to,” He swallowed back his truth. “I used to travel a lot. But I miss that. Because I finally found someone I want to travel again with. I know I’m asking a lot- “

“Let’s do it.”

It would suck not seeing Bruce again. He’d done so much for Dick. He cared so hard for him. But Dick was still young, and Bruce was a _god_. But she wanted to explore with him. She wanted to get to know him past the fake names and the once a year visit. He could spend the rest of his life with her. Dick could see it now. After all, Dick could still make sacrifices to death. That way he'd know Dick was okay.

“I’m Dick. Dick Grayson.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also I want to thank andy for giving us this beautiful piece of art from last years dickbabs week that has haunted my dreams ever since it was posted  
> https://avataraandy.tumblr.com/post/181196361237/dickbabs-week-day-six-alternate-universe-the
> 
> literal oracle babs is too good of a babs to pass up


	5. "I could've lost you."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> dick biffed it during a mission and barbara calls him out

He’s laying on a gurney, under a bright lamp, wearing only a thin blanket. _Only_ a thin blanket.

The cave was drafty as hell. He was cold. He was naked. He knew this gurney was very uncomfortable, and only going to get worse the longer he laid there. Dick gripped the sides and pushed. Then was promptly pushed down by a strong hand.

“Not on your life, Boy Wonder,” Barbara warned from his left. “You need your rest.”

“I’m not comfy.”

“You kinda deserve that, after the stunt you pulled,” she wheeled closer. He felt the back of his hand press against her cheek. “They’re all alive and unharmed. Bruce is mad, as am I.”

“He’ll get over it,” Dick murmured as he moved his fingers to trace her cheeks. “He always does.”

She raised a red eyebrow at him. Her glasses had slid nearly to the tip of her freckled nose, and he caught his reflection in the frames. He looked pale, gaunt, and his face was nearly covered in bruises. There wasn’t enough foundation in the world do hide that. Barbara leaned down, a smile playing on her lips.

“Stop looking at yourself in my glasses.”

“I can’t help it I’m so pretty. Seriously, though, everyone is fine?” He asked.

“All asleep in their beds after I threatened to doxx them all.”

He lifted his lips, and Barbara obliged him. Dick wanted to run his fingers through her wavy red hair. He wanted to pull her onto the gurney with him and press her curves to his own body. But the way everything was aching and protesting, he knew they wouldn’t be able to do anything fun for a few weeks. She seemed to sense this.

“Down, boy,” Barbara grinned. “Do you think you could make it upstairs?”

He gripped the sides of the gurney again and pushed. “Help me?”

She wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him to his feet. Dick grabbed onto the back of her chair, and together they entered the elevator. By the time the pair of them had made it to the second floor, he was out of breath and Barbara was doing everything in her power to keep her chair from tipping. They made it to his bed, which Dick flopped into happily.

“That hurt,” he smiled as he made space for Barbara.

“I bet. You probably shouldn’t have been walking,” she agreed as she joined him.

He pulled her closer by her hips and kissed her. She leaned into him, her grip relaying just how nervous she had been about him. Dick let his hands drop to her thighs.

“You’re still wearing pants,” he groaned against her.

“I could’ve lost you tonight,” Barbara murmured. “Dick, what you did… it was stupid and reckless. I know you’re smarter than that. You know you’re smarter than that. So, what happened?”

The boy wonder didn’t have an answer. The mission had started off as it always did, terribly. He’d been faced with a bad decision, and then been forced into an even worse one after the Joker had revealed himself as the mastermind. Even after all these years, he still wanted blood.

“I still want to kill him, Babs. For what he did to you. From what he took from you. Especially after last night… we had such a good time, you know? Then to see him today. It was too much. I wanted to break him, Babs. I wanted to kill him. But I couldn’t do that with the rest of them around. I-“

“Stop.”

“What?”

“Yeah, he took my legs from me. But you know what? I adapted. I learned how to make a difference. I learned to see that chair not as something that was holding me back, but something that was a part of me. I hate it sometimes. I hate being in that thing. But I’ve made a bigger impact as Oracle than I ever did as Batgirl. I’ve solved cases before even the ‘ _Goddamn Batman_ ’,” she growled in a low voice. “even knew about it. But the one thing I’ve never wanted you to feel, was guilt. I made the mistake of opening that door before checking. Trust me; I’ve paid for that. I’ve gotten my revenge on him. I get it every time I throw that sick twisted fuck back into Arkham. I just… I don’t want you to kill him. That’s too good for him.” 

“Even after everything he’s done?”

“Especially after everything he’s done.”

Dick sighed, his eyes focusing on the ceiling above.

“You don’t get it. That’s okay, Dick. Look at me,” her index finger and thumb gripped his chin and forced him to look at her. “I don’t blame you, or Bruce, or anybody else for this. Not even myself. Well, at least, not any more. I just need you to promise me one thing.”

“Anything,” He murmured.

“I can avenge what happened to me. I have. But you need to let me finish what I’m trying to accomplish. You need to stand back. I can’t lose you over my battles. I refuse to. So, let me fight them. You just keep to your mission. I’ll stick to mine; okay?”

He kissed her again. Then, “I’m sorry.”

“I know,” She whispered as they broke apart. “Just don’t be reckless again.”

“I can’t promise that,” he said as she rested her head on his chest. “Not when you’re involved.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HUGE THANK YOU to @chronicAngel for being an amazing sensitivity reader and teaching me a lot. This is your friendly reminder to go read her work and give her guinea pigs for her grand carriage plan


	6. “If the world’s going to end, I want us to be together.”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The world's ending, but that's kind of okay bc Dick can hold his world in his arms

There was something poetic about it, the end of the world. The sky started burning a few days ago, and then everything went to hell. There wasn’t enough time to carry out a planet wide evacuation, so everybody, heroes and villains, had simply decided to hunker down and die together. That’s how Dick found himself pinned to his bed by Barbara. He trailed his fingers up and down her spine, pausing at _the_ scar long enough to trace a circle around it. Her fingers were tugging at his beard. She kept telling him how handsome he looked. 

“You look like a mountain man,” she decided after one hard tug on his beard.

“Do I?”

“Not like, a knife-wielding maniacal mountain man. But a good guy. You’ve always looked like that.”

“Like a good guy?” He asked as his fingers began moving up on her soft skin.

She nodded against his chest, then sat up to look him in the eyes. She had the most beautiful eyes in the world. Green, flecked with brown. Her blonde lashes somehow made her eyes brighter. He loved that. He loved her. 

“You’ve always look like a good guy. Even when we were kids. Even with you wearing your mask. You just have one of those faces. A handsome, kind, face.”

Outside, the sky boomed. Or maybe it was the ground. This far into the apocalypse, it didn’t really matter. Their world was blowing up from the inside out. There was nowhere to go but into the arms of the people who mattered.

“I think,” Barbara said as she rolled onto the mattress, her arm stretching across his waist. “I think that’s the first thing that made me pay attention to you. I remember the papers after your parents. You looked miserable, but you never looked mean. Then when Bruce took you in? God, I wish I could see those pictures again. It was like finally realizing what joy really is. You’re joy.”

He turned his head, watching her rose lips as she spoke. She had it all wrong, he realized. He wasn’t joy. She was. She was an early morning, with coffee dripping into the pot and birds singing on the telephone poles. Barbara was a thousand bittersweet memories. 

The world was ending, but he was okay with that. 

“I love you, Barbara,” Dick murmured.

The sky split open, and he saw a plume of fire rise from the hill he used to sled on.

“Do you remember what you said to me the night we got engaged?” He asked her, focusing back on the freckles spanned from her nose and over her cheeks. 

She smiled and he watched as a group of freckles disappeared in a dimple. “You said, ‘If the world’s going to end, I want us to be together.’ It was during one of Darkseid’s attacks, wasn’t it?”

“We were both bleeding pretty bad. God, Bruce and Clark were mad I decided to ask you mid-battle.”

“You’ve always been a romantic,” she smiled. “Handsome and romantic. I’m glad I said yes.”

“I'm glad you said yes, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me, showing up weeks late with the final dickbabs week stuff: guess who got on antidepressants!


	7. "We've come a long way."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it's not real till you buy a plant

Dick’s carrying the plant. It’s a sad looking flowering one, and neither of them know exactly what kind of flower it is. But it looked sad sitting on the shelf outside the flower shop, and it was only two dollars and fifty cents. Barbara holds the pot and tray, and they’re walking past the three-story brownstones that fill their neighborhood. It’s a nice day in Gotham city; no supervillains promising the death of the city, no clouds hiding the sun, and no blistering heat to keep them indoors. 

Barbara grips his hand.

It’s nice, having these moments. But they’re nicer because these moments only happen with _her_. He’s grateful for that. He’s so, so, so grateful but every time he’s tried to express that to her, it didn’t come out right. It never felt adequate enough. 

“You’ve got your brooding face on,” she comments as they wait for a light to change.

“I don’t have a brooding face.”

She raises her eyebrow. Why does every important person in his life have the ability to raise one eyebrow perfectly? He decides Bruce, Alfred, Clark, and Barbara probably all practice together.

“I don’t have a brooding face!”

“Sure, you don’t, Mr. Grayson-Wayne.”

“That’s a low blow,” he grumbles as they finally start crossing the street. “And you know it.”

He adjusts the plant so he can hold her hand. He likes that. He likes the way her fingers tangle with his. He likes showing the world that he’s hers. Brooding face. He doesn’t have a brooding face. Plus, what does he have to brood about? He’s got Barbara, and now their plant.

“Okay. Fine. I have a brooding face. But I wasn’t brooding. It’s my thinking face,” Dick says as he holds the door to their building open.

Tom, the doorman, waves to them as they head for the elevator. A few other people join them, and he tightens his grip on her hand. 

“What were you thinking about?” She asks as the last of the fellow riders got off at the tenth floor.

“You. Us. Look at us, being all domestic. We bought a plant. We have a place together. You’re still as pretty as the day I met you. Also, we need to name our plant,” he says as they get off the elevator.

She places the tray and pot on the small table by the window once they get inside. He gets a small cup of water, places the plant in the tray and waters it. Once he’s done, he catches her watching him.

“We’ve come a long way, Dick. Feels like just yesterday we were saving a flower shop from getting ‘repurposed’ by Poison Ivy. Now look at us, and our new plant, Pamela.”

He leans down and kisses her. “We’re not naming the plant Pamela.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is dedicated to my new plant, Brunhilde

**Author's Note:**

> happy dickbabs week sorry i threw these two off a building i had a hard day at work


End file.
